Onward

On Disney + and available to stream.

Directed and written by Dan Scanlon alongside Keith Bunin is Pixar’s first original film since 2017’s Coco (i.e. not a sequel) which had a short release in the cinema ahead of various COVID lock downs before its broad digital release.

Set in a suburban fantasy world inhabited by elves and other mystical creatures, including my favourite, feral unicorns!, but it is a world were magic has been replaced by time saving technologies, why cast a spell to create light when you can use a bulb!

The story revolves around two elf brothers Barley and Ian. It is Ian’s 16th birthday and his mother presents him with a gift from his late father, a spell that will allow them to bring him back for just one day. When the spell only half works the brothers and dad’s legs head off on a olde worlde quest to find something to complete the spell.

I don’t think this will go down as a Pixar classic but the bar is set so high that it is not a criticism and there is plenty to enjoy. The voice cast are solid, Tom Holland is enjoyable as Ian and Chris Pratt delivers as his older brother. Technically, as you’d expect, it looks fantastic and the small attention to detail adds to the enjoyment as it plays with the way the “normal world” is so easily absorbed into one inhabited by elves, magic and mystical creatures.

However, where it doesn’t hit Pixar’s very high standards is in its emotional pull. Pixar at its best fully absorbs you and fully engages you emotionally and Onward doesn’t do it to the level of some of its predecessors. Again this isn’t to say it fails completely because it doesn’t, the final 20 minutes do bring the story to an emotional and heart warming end, but much of the film is a fun animated adventure, full of fun characters, puzzles and animated peril, but not one that pulls at the heart strings.

Onward is a solid bit of story telling and enjoyable enough and while it lacks classic Pixar emotional depth, it does have a satisfying pay off. While not a classic, it’s enjoyable fun.